The Dragon and the Unicorn
by jemetc
Summary: Jessica, Ashley, and their first impressions of the blonde and the redhead they've signed up to sing for.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pitch Perfect, and all that.

**Note:** I started this for the Chaubrey week Day 7 challenge: How the Bellas see Chaubrey. I know it's late and it isn't even exactly Chaubrey (_yet_; I now have half a mind to make this into a multi-chapter thing in which Jessica and Ashley get to know Chloe and Aubrey throughout the year, even as their own friendship develops). But I really wanted to do something for Chaubrey week. I wanted to do something for the A/U day too (i.e. publish an update of my Barden Bellas baseball A/U, but I keep overanalyzing it and therefore keep getting nowhere). So here goes, just so stuff I type actually begin leaving my folders and make it to this blog.

* * *

"The blonde is really scary," the slight, sandy-haired freshman suddenly blurted out. She fell back on her heels, ceasing from peering over the shoulder of the plump, curly-haired girl beside her in the wings. "She totally dissed Bumper Allen. She can totally diss _me_."

"At least the redhead seems nice," the other girl answered nonchalantly as she continued to peek through the curtain. "She was really friendly at sign-ups and stuff."

"It doesn't make me any less nervous!" the smaller girl cut in, almost squeaking, near tears. "I've… I… I've never auditioned before."

"Oh." Her companion glanced back out onto the stage, where an African-American woman with dyed hair had already walked out and was, in fact, receiving curious looks from the two upperclassmen they were auditioning for. "Well," she said, clucking her tongue to hide a grin, "I have once or twice… to a karaoke machine."

The other girl stopped teetering on her toes, looked at her for a full two seconds, then burst into giggles. Smiling, she held out her hand, half in introduction, half to steady her new acquaintance. "I'm Ashley."

"Jessica," came an answer and a shaky handshake in between more laughter. "I'm sorry, that wasn't even that funny but—" She gasped for air.

"You're really nervous, I know," Ashley grinned. "You've been, like, literally shaking the whole time. Hey," she added, nudging Jessica. "I am too. But chill. Just pretend you're singing to something stupid and inanimate, not them. Me, I'm gonna imagine I'm in front of a tall, yellow karaoke machine." She smiled a little. "It'll be okay."

Grateful for the unexpected reassurance, Jessica nodded. But she wasn't too convinced. She always considered herself a trooper, no matter how skittish, but there was just something extra intimidating about the blonde, and even the redhead—if only because in all her cheery confidence she didn't seem to be intimidated in the least by her domineering friend. Jessica's tension didn't ease up when the first audition ended with the two Bellas' voices ringing clearly through the auditorium:

"Thank you, Cynthia Rose; you're a fine belter."

"Oh, totes! That was really good! You are _so_ hearing from Aubrey and I—"

"Yes, you _may_ be hearing from Chloe and me after we thoroughly discuss how your merits may contribute to the Bellas. Thank you._"_

The blonde then looked at the redhead pointedly, lifting her chin, and Jessica didn't know which was tighter: the line of the senior's lips as she forced a smile, her clenched jaw, or the knots in Jessica's own stomach as she realized that, yes, she was now scared of this girl named Aubrey. Really.

"Geez," Ashley muttered, her nonchalance finally seeming to crack a little. "Make that a karaoke machine that happens to be half-dragon."

"B-beside a fire truck that looks like a unicorn," Jessica found herself saying before she could stop herself.

"What?" It was Ashley's turn to dissolve into chortles.

"I'm j-just doing what you… Or—or she could be a red ice cream truck because she does seem so nice…?"

How Ashley still managed to keep a sweet poker face for her own audition after that, Jessica never understood. She herself couldn't quite keep it together, trying both not to bounce off the stage (nervous energy will always be a thing) and giggle like a madwoman in front of the fire engine/ice cream truck and karaoke machine.

It was the weirdest advice she had ever received, but it worked. When she saw Ashley at the Bellas' initiation a few nights later, she rushed to her side in gratefulness and glee. "See! We did it!" Ashley exclaimed, embracing her.

As they headed for the food table, Jessica saw their now-captains at the far end of the hall. Aubrey was surveying the roomful of giddy girls, stern and statuesque as ever; beside her, Chloe watched too, with more of a twinkle than a glint in her eyes. The two older women murmured something inaudible to each other, with Chloe even burying her nose and lips into Aubrey's hair. Something secret, shared, and conspiratorial washed over their faces.

Jessica could just imagine what tortures a dragon and a unicorn could come up with for a bunch of freshmen and sophomores.

Suddenly, she felt even gladder that Ashley was a Bella too. She looked back at her new friend. "Did we?"


	2. Chapter 2

It had to be the cardio. Definitely, whatever planned torture had made their captains smile so sweetly at each other on initiation night, it had to _be_ the cardio. Or so Ashley never stopped telling her in their first few days as Bellas.

But weeks into the semester, Jessica had already become comfortable enough around Ashley to seriously remind her that the cardio was _good_ for her, no matter how much Amy (comfortable about discomfiting everyone) tried to convince them otherwise. And Jessica actually liked the workouts, though she dreaded and suffered other things: one-on-one percussionist training with Aubrey, for example. (That, Ashley was quite good at, and had already earned her some not-so-icy smiles from the senior.)

As for Jessica… well, imagining karaokes was much harder when the person that they were supposed to be was actually standing a foot from you, acting just like the machine by spelling out what you had to do and scoring how well you did it. And dragons? Did Ashley even know everything about dragons when she compared Aubrey to one? Because Jessica could _feel_ Aubrey's eyes on her, focused and expectant, whenever they went through the vocal exercises. And she had read a thing or two about not looking into the eyes of those creatures…

So, yes, after a month or so, Jessica was still afraid of Aubrey. Ashley, behind the mask of nonchalance, still got flustered too. But gradually, their intimidation had also been tempered by awe. It was impossible not to admire how the blonde could break down all the sounds in a song, match and make them herself, and explain how to do them to the team. She preferred songs from the previous century, true; both Jessica and Ashley begrudged that, though not as openly as their fellow freshman, Beca. But as far as Jessica was concerned, such knowledge of a body of songs, and how to handle it, was impressive in itself.

Moreover, any doubts they had about Aubrey's capability to lead them to a championship after Lily showed them the video of last year's ICCA Finals had disappeared. Aubrey—_and_ Chloe—were for real. They had proven as much one day, when, at Amy's and Stacie's prodding, to the redhead's obvious amusement, and despite the blonde's obvious hesitation, the two had sung a duet. Chloe sang the melody and Aubrey sang the harmony while tapping the lid of the grand piano in accompaniment. At an apparent instrumental interlude, they also picked up on the appropriate tunes without faltering.

"Wow," Ashley had whispered. "If only we could do that too." Beside them, Denise nodded, then glanced at Cynthia Rose.

It was the first time any of them had seen Aubrey ease into a song, rather than zero in and march into it. It was also the first time they had seen Chloe's megawatt performance smile (something she always tried to teach Beca, in good humor and in vain) soften into a more contemplative expression.

"Now, ladies," Aubrey said afterwards, coming back into drillmaster mode, "We did that to show you what two people can do if they put _all_ their effort into making one number. It doesn't matter how simple, complex, difficult, or _old_ a song is—what matters is you understand how to complement and carry one another."

"Not all two people are us, Bree," Chloe then quipped, with a wink. But Aubrey let the comment slide: "Imagine what we could do if _all ten of us_ did the same for I Saw the Sign. Learn your piece, follow the pace, and sing along."

And sing along Jessica and Ashley did—from the beginnings of rehearsals so early Amy said they might as well be running on Australian time, through to the ends of practices that lasted past Stacie's preferred "bed times."

They both felt it was the least they could do to make sure they didn't get on the wrong side of their captains. What they didn't realize was that it would let them see an entirely different side of them too.


End file.
